Monday, August 22, 2011

Windows default file copy dialog box offers little control over file copy and transfer operations. While the majority of users wouldn’t give a damn, people whose computers regularly freeze up while moving large number of files between disks will rejoice at the availability of alternative file copiers.

If you have heard about file copy programs, you must have also heard about TeraCopy. It is the most recommended Windows alternative file copy program. But TeraCopy isn’t the only Windows copy program and it’s certainly not the best. TeraCopy is a good program, but if you compare it with other file copy programs, TeraCopy’s drawbacks become obvious.

What TeraCopy lacks

Cannot shuffle or reorder the queue

Cannot remove files from the copy queue (only in Pro version)

No speed control

No buffer size control

No filtering options (limited filtering in Pro version)

Instead, I recommend you these three alternative file copy programs. All of them are free.

SuperCopier integrates with Windows shell and replaces Windows explorer file copy. It automatically launches when you try to copy and paste files using the Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V shortcuts or the Windows context menu. A program icon on the system tray also lets you start a file copy/move operation, cancel an operation or temporarily deactivate the program so that the default Windows file copier can take over.

SuperCopier features:

Pause and resume file copy/move operation

Configure default destination for file copy/move operations

Limit speed of the operation

Set default action to take when file collision occurs, i.e. when SuperCopier finds files with the same name

FastCopy employs two different file transfer methods based on whether the source and destination directories are in the same or different hard disk. If both are on different disk drives, reading and writing are processed respectively in parallel by separate threads. If both source and destination are on the same disk drive reading is processed until the buffer is filled, and then writing is started and processed in bulk.

UltraCopier is a cross-platform file copy program that is available for Windows, Linux and OS X. By looks and functionality it is similar to SuperCopier. To transfer files, start a new file transfer operation and then drag and drop files into the file queue.

Ultracopier features

Pause and resume the copy

Show speed and apply speed limitation

Copy list can be edited during the copy

File Collision management (overwrite, skip, cancel or rename)

Error management (retry where it block, skip, cancel put at the end of the list)

Resume the copy where it have stop if error occurred

Set file copy block size

For small file copy jobs you will probably not going to get a lot out of these programs. However, if you copy enormous number of files amounting to several hundred megabytes and gigabytes in size that tend to degrade computer performance by locking up the hard disk, the above programs offer the solution.

@KaushikThanks for this article. I find Teracopy a bit clunky for very large numbers of files, sometimes freezing, or giving poor feedback to the user. I have switched to Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier, which is a bit plain and geeky, but does the job well.

teracopy is still being actively worked on (last version, beta, from jan 2012).The only viable alternative from your list is supercopy (which indeed has nice additions), but development stopped in 2009, last version being a beta! So there's absolutely no way I'd use or even recommend those!

It is a non-integrated file copier, but it is probably the only one that can help while recovering files from scratched optical disks and soon-to-be-defective hard drives. It can ignore unreadable files and manage to copy the recoverable files.

There is one thing you failed to mention, and that is whether or not they automatically shut down the pc, or close the program as TeraCopy does, but i have yet to see Tera copy shut down the pc, i have it set to shut down the pc, but for what ever reason it has not accomplished this as of yet

Any recommendations for this scenario appreciated: need to copy very large files to ESX hosts to sites with limited bandwidth. I need to be able to limit the amount of bandwidth the copy consumes. It would be nice if I could schedule the copy to start and stop within certain timeframes, but even if I had to do it manually, it would be nice to be able to stop and resume the copy mid-file. ESX environment preferred but if same features work only in Windows, I'd take that. Your recommnedations appreciated.

Along the lines of what Nico said... having used Teracopy for some time, with very large numbers of files it is exceedingly poor. It freezes (it does things without telling you and it seems dead) and then comes back. It sometimes crashes when copying (freezes and never comes back). The speed issue seems to only be due to the "verify" option, which is the ONLY reason I use it. It looks nice, but the bugs make it unworkable - I have uninstalled it. Am now looking for an alternate that runs on Linux as well as Doze, and verifies too. Not a big ask? Well it seems a rare thing!

GSCopy Pro v6.0 (RoboCopy Alternative) with Open File AgentGSCopyPro is a single command-line tool (CLI) that can copy, replicate and move files from one folder to another. This folder can be on the same machine/ server or another server elsewhere. What makes GSCopyPro stand out from other competitors is the fact it works on 32-bit as well as 64-bit systems and has no restrictions. It can easily be scheduled to run as a scheduled task and fully automated. GSCopyPro also comes with an open file agent which can copy files that are locked/ opened by other processes. This feature is supported in all windows versions from widows XP/ 2003 and later.Go To:>> http://www.gurusquad.com/GSCOPYPRO

The reason I stay with TeraCopy is that it has option to copy deeply embedded files where file name and name(s) of folders/sub-folders wherein the file exists are greater than 255 alpha-numerals which is Windows default limit. Do any of the above touted copy programs have that option?

I needed a program which I could limit the copy bandwidth as coping large files from our server would take 100% network utilization and block out the 70 other users. Supercopier is working great, from what I understand Tera Copy doesn't do this. Also it states on the website Supercopier is just a skin for Ultracopier.

You should update this article. Development of Supercopier has been taken over by Ultracopier, and in fact the latest version of Supercopier is simply Ultracopier with a different skin. Also, download of either Supercopier or Ultracopier is now blocked by some anti-virus software for potential trojans.

Nice tool but some time it occurs some memory issue which is not good for database and system.... so I m using http://www.gurusquad.com/GSRichCopy360Enterprise this tool and it's very good for any IT companies which is working on data...

I too find Teracopy buggy on the bigger, longer transfers where it will often, inexplicably stop or even crash. This is no good but I'm still happy to use it for a small transfer of a dozen files or so. For those big copy jobs, I will now try FastCopy. File validation is a huge issue for me and one of the big advantages of Teracopy. FastCopy has an error checking verify option though, so that's cool...

As a file copying tool I use GS RichCopy 360 in day-to-day life. It’s always been reliable assistant to me while I’m operation with files. If you’re interested, you can learn more at http://www.gurusquad.com.

Teracopy is absolute junk. I made the mistake of paying for the Pro version, - it runs out of memory and crashes ; on an i7 6700k system with 32GB of memory! Customer service is non-existent, no response for refunds, caveat emptor. Sticking with robocopy on Windows and rsync on Linux.

I've tried a couple of software copiers previously including the names mentioned above, but the best one I have had experienced using is the GS RichCopy 360. Truly fast and easy to use and has features that are very useful. If you are not satisfied with the one you are using (as was my case before), I strongly urge you to give it a try!